Addressing party workers at a rally at Shivaji Park in central Mumbai, Thackeray said, "The country is fed up with the false promises made by (Prime Minister) Narendra Modi and his government." All Opposition parties should come together to get rid of the BJP-led NDA government to ensure a "Modi-mukt Bharat", he said, while reminding the audience of the BJP's "Congress-mukt Bharat" slogan.

"India got its first independence in 1947, second in 1977 (after the post-Emergency election) and 2019 can bring a third independence if India becomes Modi-mukt," the MNS chief said.

If the Modi government was ousted and an inquiry was ordered into demonetisation, it (the note ban) might turn out to be the biggest scam in the country since 1947, he said. Quoting an ISRO report, Thackeray said, "A large-scale desertification of Maharashtra is going on due to the depletion of groundwater. After Rajasthan, our state has reported the second highest rate of desertification in the country."

Taking a dig at Modi's foreign tours, Thackeray said the prime minister was apparently visiting those countries to get "flour for pakoda" as the visits had not fetched any investments.